My first payslip!

I got my first payslip yesterday, was surprised at the amount of deductions (tax, NI etc), lost a good few hundred pounds but I was glad with what I had left. “What’s the first thing you’re gonna buy?” people kept asking, well, the only things I have bought are household stuff for the kitchen.

I bought a new thingy to put the plates on to let them dry after washing up (can’t remember the name now…), some tea towels, a few brushes and a new mop. I can’t use the old mop – I used that one to clean up Sam’s blood on Monday and I just can’t face using that mop again… You know, I can still smell it sometimes. I think that smell is going to stay with me for a long time.

Tags: jobs/careers, life

Youth Culture

Three teenagers were found guilty yesterday of murdering Mr Newlove, a 47-year-old sales manager, who was punched and kicked to the ground when he left his home, barefoot and in pyjama bottoms, to see who had vandalised his wife’s car.
(More here)

Frail Susan Collins was blinded in one eye after she was battered by a thug who had been freed early from jail for killing a man in a copycat attack.

Drunk Nicholas Hague kicked Susan, 60, to the ground then stamped on her after she refused to give him a cigarette – inflicting multiple skull fractures.
(More here)

Stories like this give people of my generation a bad name. I often feel like a spokesperson at work trying to retain the Youth of Today’s dignity and say that we’re not all like that. When I’m doing afternoon shifts, we have bar open in the evening, social gathering, let their hair down and people sit in the lounge having a good natter, the news is often the subject of conversation and stories like this come up regularly (as well as stories such as Vera Duckworth leaving Coronation Street yesterday evening). Last night, the tenants were really laying into the teenagers saying how bad they are etc and I was like, “wow, wow, wooooow…. I’m 19 and I’m certainly not a thug – responsible, trusting teenagers out there do exist, you’re sitting next to one”.

I see their point, and it is sad. This country does need to toughen up because when I was going through school, every year, the new people entering comprehensive were getting more defiant and thugish, the teachers were gradually losing their control and the way things are going… I really dread to think how things will be in 10 years time.

Tags: news, people, thoughts